The six-wheel NASA rover touched down in an ancient crater near the Martian equator exactly a year ago to much fanfare. Since it was so massive, engineers had to invent a new landing routine and used cables to set it down on the surface.

Despite a slow start, Curiosity has achieved one of its main goals by finding evidence of a past environment that could have supported microbes.

Now it's driving to Mount Sharp, a mountain that rises from the crater floor. The journey will last many months. Once at the base, Curiosity will try to find signs of the chemical building blocks of life.

Curiosity's landing was so successful that NASA said it plans an encore in 2021.

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